If you follow my tweets (@laurenfosternyc), many of these links below will be familiar. But for those of you who missed them, here is a short selection of some of the most essential and/or enjoyable reading and viewing I’ve come across over the past few weeks. Enjoy.

Investing

Two legends at the table — one from the world of journalism, the other from the world of investing: Jeremy Grantham speaks with Charlie Rose. The show runs just shy of an hour, and it’s worth watching every minute. As Rose says, Grantham “is a man of interesting ideas.” The discussion ranges from his outlook for the global economy, including population growth and threats to the world’s natural resources, to his prescient market calls on such financial asset bubbles as Japan, the dot-com frenzy, and the subprime crisis. (Charlie Rose)

In this two-minute video clip from 1995, Steve Jobs — who was at NeXT at the time — discusses the most important thing. “The minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it,” he says. “That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.” Words to live by. (Farnam Street)

In “A Sociologist Examines the Limitations of Behavioral Finance,” Brooke Harrington, an associate professor at the Copenhagen Business School, acknowledges the appeal of behavioral finance but also points out its shortcomings: Failure to acknowledge the findings of the allied social sciences, and a narrow, limited critique of economic theory. (Corporate Governance)

If you have kids, you’ve no doubt heard about “the marshmallow test,” which shows how well children can delay gratification. (Apparently this is a trait that has been shown to be as important to academic performance as traditional IQ, much to the angst of parents everywhere.) But if you haven’t heard of it till now, the test goes something like this: Sit your child down at a table with a marshmallow and give him or her a choice: He or she could eat one marshmallow now, or wait 15 minutes and get two marshmallows. Can you see where this is going? According to the research, the ability to hold out for the latter correlated with greater success and self-control later in life. In a twist, new research from University of Pennsylvania psychologists suggests that changing one’s mind about delaying gratification can be a rational decision in situations when the timing of the payoff is uncertain. See: “Quitting Marshmallow Test Can Be a Rational Decision.” (Science Daily)

We are all generally aware of the benefits and convenience of all our electronic devices. But new research, explained in “Your Phone vs. Your Heart,” suggests it comes with a high cost: our biological capacity to connect with other people. (New York Times)

Have you ever pondered the question: How much is it worth sacrificing to do what you love? I know I have. Plus I’ve also often wondered what separates endurance athletes from the rest of us mere mortals. “Becoming the All-Terrain Human” is not a philosophical treatise; it delves into the world of über athlete Kilian Jornet Burgada who “has won more than 80 races, claimed some 16 titles and set at least a dozen speed records, many of them in distances that would require the rest of us to purchase an airplane ticket. He has run across entire landmasses­ (Corsica) and mountain ranges (the Pyrenees), nearly without pause. He regularly runs all day eating only wild berries and drinking only from streams.” I’m exhausted just reading about these feats. If nothing else, the article will leave you stunned by Jornet’s physical prowess and his seemingly incomprehensible endurance. (New York Times Magazine)

Lauren Foster is managing editor of Enterprising Investor and co-lead of CFA Institute’s Women in Investment Management initiative. Previously, she worked as a freelance writer for Barron’s and the Financial Times. Prior to her freelance work, Foster spent nearly a decade on staff at the FT as a reporter and editor based in the New York bureau. Foster holds a BA in political science from the University of Cape Town, and an MS in journalism from Columbia University.

European regulators, including Belgium's Financial Services and Markets Authority, are calling for banks to give more short-term voluntary support to the Euribor swaps market benchmark, which faces an overhaul. The panel of banks that contributes to setting the benchmark has fallen from 49 to 20, and regulators say they have contacted banks and asked them to return to participation, with the possibility of making their contribution mandatory being held back as a last resort. Risk (subscription required) (16 Aug.)

Investigations into potential insider trading by Deutsche Boerse CEO Carsten Kengeter have expanded to look into the "reliability" of the exchange's top management. Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (16 Aug.)

President Donald Trump has dissolved two business councils after CEOs kept withdrawing to protest his comments about a deadly confrontation in Virginia. Eight executives of major companies left the American Manufacturing Council and the Strategic and Policy Forum. Reuters (17 Aug.)

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